Game Schedule Set for CONCACAF Olympic Women's Qualifying this January in Vancouver, B.C.

WNTOct 26, 2011

U.S. Women Will Open Tournament against the Dominican Republic on Jan. 20, Face Guatemala on Jan. 22 and Finish Group Play against Mexico on Jan. 24

CHICAGO (Oct. 26, 2011) â€“ The schedule for the CONCACAF Olympic Women's Qualifying tournament has been set, and the U.S. Women's National Team will open Group B play against the Dominican Republic on the second match day of the competition, squaring off against the Caribbean nation on Friday, Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time.

The USA will then face Guatemala on Sunday, Jan. 22 (4:30 p.m. PT) and finish group play against Mexico on Tuesday, Jan. 24 (7:30 p.m. PT).

All the matches of the tournament â€“ which runs from Jan. 19-29 â€“ will be played at the newly renovated BC Place. The group winners and runners-up will play in the all-important semifinals on Friday, Jan. 27, with the winners of those games qualifying for the London Olympics. The championship game will be played on Sunday, Jan. 29. All the group games and the semifinals will be played in double-header formats.

Host Canada heads Group A, which also features Costa Rica, Cuba and Haiti.

Individual event tickets will go on sale this Friday, October 28th at 10 a.m. PST.

Organizers have set aside a limited number of individual seats in each of the three U.S. supporters sections. Each section corresponds to a different price. Fans who would like to purchase tickets in those sections can do so by using the code USASINGLE through Ticketmaster.com. Individual event tickets in the U.S. Supporters Sections will be available for only a limited time before the ticket blocks are released for general sale.

The U.S. will attempt to qualify for a fifth consecutive Olympic Games and finish in first place at CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying for the third consecutive time. In 2008, the USA won the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Mexico and went on to win the gold medal in Beijing. In 2004, the U.S. won the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Costa Rica and went on to win gold in Athens, Greece. The U.S. qualified for the 1996 Atlanta Games as host and for the 2000 Sydney Games as a top-seven finisher at the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Nine teams have already qualified for the 12-team Olympic Football Tournament: hosts Great Britain; Japan and North Korea from Asia; Cameroon and South Africa from Africa; Brazil and Colombia from South America; and Sweden and France from Europe. New Zealand will likely earn Oceania's lone berth, which leaves just the CONCACAF entrants to be decided.

The last time the USA met Mexico in a qualifying tournament, it did not go well for the Americans, who dropped a 2-1 decision during Women's World Cup qualifying in Cancun, Mexico, relegating the USA to the third place match of the tournament. The U.S. defeated Costa Rica in the third-place match and headed into a two-game playoff with Italy that the USA won 2-0 on aggregate to earn the final berth to Germany. It was Mexico's first ever defeat of the USA. However, the U.S. Women do own seven all-time victories over Mexico in CONCACAF qualifying tournaments, including a 3-1 victory in group play at the 2008 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying tournament in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

The USA has faced Guatemala just once in its history, during the most recent Women's World Cup qualifying tournament in Cancun last October, coming away with a 9-0 victory. The meeting with the Dominican Republic will be the first-ever between the countries.

U.S. head coach Pia Sundhage will bring a large roster of players to a training camp in Arizona beginning Nov. 7 to prepare for a match against Sweden at the University of Phoenix Stadium on Nov. 19. That roster will be announced in the near future. More than 10,000 tickets have already been sold for the WNT's first match in Arizona since 2000.

The U.S. team will also have an extended training camp in December, after which Sundhage will choose a 20-player roster for the Olympic qualifying tournament.